At the beginning of 2025, university researcher Tuukka Tomperi from the DELIBERATE Consortium (together with writer and teacher Severi Hämäri, who served as the course’s online moderator) created an online course “Using debate to build critical thinking and communication skills” for the European School Education Platform (EU Academy, European Commission). The course was directed for teachers’ continuing education and provided teachers with a thorough introduction to applying debate as an approach that develops critical thinking and argumentative discussion skills.
In educational settings, debates serve as a way of learning dispositions of questioning and inquiry, research skills, content knowledge, and critical thinking. They motivate students and make learning holistic and interactive in a practical way. Thinking, public speaking and argumentation skills – justifying claims and evaluating reasons – are needed throughout society: in everyday life, the workplace, politics, courtrooms, scientific research, and personal decision-making in existential life choices.
Debates are sometimes perceived as nothing but competitive games focused, regardless of the truthfulness of the claims defended, on defeating the opponent for the amusement of the audience. Once discussion, dialogue, and debate, however, were the core of the intellectual practices of the great Greek philosophers. When implemented in a pedagogically well considered and balanced manner, practicing debating teaches essential deliberative skills and dispositions.
As we live in a media culture and digital media environment, we are constantly targeted by persuasive attempts. Critical thinking, the evaluation of reasons, and the analysis of arguments have become essential civic skills. Pedagogical debate is an effective way to support these skills. Debating should be an integral part of democratic education. Tomperi has previously used debating in his own teaching and written and lectured on using debate as a pedagogical approach: see, for instance, the book Väittely opetusmenetelmänä (in Finnish), and the more recent article Debate as a Pedagogical Practice: A Case Study from Finland on Teaching International Law.
Although the course has ended, the wide range of course materials remain open and you are welcome to visit the online platform by registering as a user of the EU Academy: https://academy.europa.eu/courses/using-debate-to-build-critical-thinking-and-communication-skills
